Russian Ambassador to India: New Delhi Skeptical About Idea of Price Cap on Russian Oil

NEW DELHI (Sputnik) - India is skeptical about the idea of capping prices of Russian oil, Russian Ambassador to India Denis Alipov said in an interview with Sputnik.

"India is very skeptical about the idea of setting a price cap for Russian oil, although the United States is trying with all its might to draw it into its adventure. It understands that without India as one of the largest consumers, it [price cap] will not work,"

The Indians are interested in lowering world prices for energy resources, but they are by no means sure that the plans of the US will work, the diplomat said, adding that New Delhi knows that Russia will not trade to its own detriment.

Commenting on the idea, New Delhi said that it would carefully evaluate whether to support this proposal, adding that it is still unclear what countries would take part in the proposed price cap and what implications this might have for the markets.

Also, the ambassador said that the trade turnover between Russia and India is increasing unprecedentedly, as a result of which the volume of mutual trade could reach $30 billion by 2025.

"Trade and economic cooperation is actively developing, forced to adapt to modern realities. Today, we are seeing an unprecedented growth in trade: in the first six months of 2022, it amounted to over $11 billion," the ambassador said, adding that "this gives every reason to predict that mutual trade will reach $30 billion by 2025."

Alipov also recalled that India had not joined Western sanctions against Russia.

"Our joint work continues, aimed at expanding and deepening the especially privileged strategic partnership between the two countries," the ambassador said.

In 2021, the trade turnover between Russia and India for the entire year amounted to $13.6 billion, Alipov added.

Russia and India have been adjusting mutual payments in national currencies, but there are currently no deadlines for mutual use of national payment systems, such as Russia's MIR and India's RuPay, the ambassador said.

"The process of adjusting payments in national currencies has been moving forward steadily, and for a long time already. It started long before the first sanctions were imposed on Russia. Techincally, national currencies were widely used by us back in the days of Soviet-Indian relations. Now both Russia and India are interested in adaptable schemes of mutual payments that meet the needs of our cooperation in the long term and ensure its uninterrupted nature," the ambassador said.

Alipov also noted that the departments and banks of the two countries maintained a substantive dialogue aimed at synchronizing payment systems.

"It is difficult to predict exactly when Russians will be able to use MIR cards in India, and Indian citizens will be able to use RuPay cards in Russia, but it is clear that there is a high need for this on both sides," the ambassador added.